Microsoft’s Azure Stack extends public cloud capabilities to on-premises data centers with first-to-market Dell-EMC Cloud Appliance.
Today, IT is more than an operational support unit. It’s an innovation driver.
The business expects IT to deliver next-generation applications and services much faster. Public cloud infrastructure has the power to help. Yet most enterprise organizations hesitate to adopt it. In fact, most turn to the cloud to make their existing applications more efficient.
But migrating these workloads to a shared public platform raises concerns. Some CIOs worry performance of their mission-critical apps will suffer. Others fear they’ll have large data sets “stuck” on the cloud behind third-party APIs.
Most enterprises keep applications deployed on-premises for regulatory compliance, governance or security reasons. Migrating systems using confidential data to the public cloud isn’t workable.
A hybrid IT model (that blends both cloud and on-premise experiences) goes a long way to address these concerns.
Nonetheless, app behavior is inconsistent between cloud environments and on-premises data centers. These inconsistencies dilute the scalability and efficiency benefits of deploying on the cloud.
According to this TechCrunch article, Microsoft believes hybrid IT will remain a steady state for its enterprise customers. Their Azure Stack is a brand-new offering that extends the advantages of Azure to the data center. The results? An organization can base technology decisions on business needs rather than technical limitations.
DellEMC and Azure Stack delivers first public cloud-like experience on-premises
Modern apps rely on cloud-computing to overcome technical limitations of their traditional counterparts. Azure Stack aims to blur the distinction.
It provides a single, consistent platform for application development. Developers on Azure Stack use the same tools and DevOps practices as they do on Azure.
The new Azure ecosystem uses identical APIs across public cloud and on-premises deployments. This ensures an identical deployment experience across the platform without duplicating effort.
Azure Stack also supports the same open-source and community-driven software components as Azure. Customers use Azure web services, containers and architectures to update or deploy apps. This results in faster deployment whether apps run on Azure or Azure Stack.
Regulatory or security requirements often demand that certain workloads live on-premises.
Common examples include banks, insurance providers, and government agencies. These entities host apps at the edge of their networks to meet security requirements.
In other scenarios, physical limitations like low connectivity create challenges. These scenarios include cruise ships, mining operations or remote oil drilling stations. Theses apps process data on-premises before gathering and analyzing it in the cloud.
In either case, deploying different application instances requires a heavy development effort. Azure Stack provides a way to deploy the same app on-premises and in the cloud without the need to rewrite code. It also extends Azure management services, scaling and cloud-computing capabilities to on-premises deployments.
Customers choose deployments for their needs without compromising on performance or ease-of-use.
Most cloud adopters seek to improve the cost efficiency of their existing applications. The investment in migrating apps to the public cloud is about half the cost to do the same on-premises. But after two years, the cost of public cloud options eclipses that of the data center.
Microsoft offers the same consumption-based price model for Azure Stack as for Azure. Under this model, customers use their own hardware. This offsets the higher operating costs associated with using public cloud resources.
Pay-as-you-go also frees customers from worrying about optimal licensing arrangements.
Azure Stack will go-to-market with an integrated appliance experience. This approach relies on purpose-built hardware to lessen deployment struggles. DellEMC Cloud for Azure Stack is the first integrated hardware partner offering.
It has all the necessary components for hybrid cloud deployment on the Azure ecosystem. It also includes full support by DellEMC throughout the solution lifecycle. This reduces the risk for the customer during initial deployment and into the future.
If your company is considering migrating “up” to the cloud, or bringing a cloud-like experience back “down” to your on-premise environment, you should download this IDC resource The Power of Hybrid Cloud.
Organizations can optimize public and private cloud benefits, and achieve fast time to value, through turnkey hybrid cloud solutions. It provides key factors to consider during your search for the right migration partner.
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